“Will Parks is no longer alone. This is the precise instant it begins. He is being watched. Followed. Everywhere. And he won’t be alone again until The End.”
Genre: YA Thriller/Drama
Length: 391 Pages
Publishing: 3rd March 2022
Publisher: Penguin Platform
CW: Elderly grandparent, homophobia, sex with a minor (mentioned), attempted sex with a minor (on page), suicide (on page), attempted suicide (on page), suicidal thoughts, train accident, drug use, drug addiction, fire/arson, divorce
Author: James Goodhand
James lives in Surrey with his wife and newborn son.
He took up writing three years ago. A mechanic by day, much of his work has been written at an oil stained workbench whilst ignoring a queue of broken cars in need of his attention.
James is also a keen musician, regularly gigging as a rhythm & blues pianist.
James’ debut YA novel, Last Lesson, tackling teen mental illness and toxic masculinity, was published in spring 2020 by Penguin Random House Children’s.
Will Parks needs to man up.
A man stands. A man fights. A man bleeds.
These are the first lessons you learn in a town where girls are objects, words are weak and fists do the talking.
Will’s more at home in the classroom than the gym, and the most important woman in his life is his gran. So how can a boy who’s always backed away from a fight become the hero who saves the day?
Because a disaster is coming. One that Will can prevent. But only if he learns the most important lesson of all: sometimes to step up, you have to man down.
A searingly powerful exploration of toxic masculinity, perfect for fans of Juno Dawson or They Both Die at the End.
I’m not sure I really know what I thought of this book. Where it’s sometimes easy to compress your thoughts into a review, I cannot for this one. I feel like I’m still processing the end.
It was a surprisingly philosophical book – I was kind of just expecting a contemporary with a supernatural twist. Instead, it made my brain work a lot. Will has a lot of deep conversations with those around him that come to bear importance in this life, and it’s rewarding to see how the results of these conversations play in his life.
Will was an interesting main character. As he reflects on what he’s been told it means to “be a man”, we get to see what he does to “man up”. I like that he explored this in his own way. He didn’t become brutish and intimidating, picking every fight he could find, he just became brave enough to fight for the things he believed in. I really enjoyed seeing the friendship he built with Alfie, where both could be honest and vulnerable.
It was a difficult book to read in terms of trigger warnings. There were a lot. I’ve tried to list them all above, but please feel free to message me if you have more questions.
The end felt… not dramatic, but maybe shocking? I’m not sure how to describe it. It really ramped the stakes up and you could feel time racing against Will. I don’t think I expected what happened to happen, nor for the supernatural presence to be what it was, but it kind of makes you look back on the rest of the book with different eyes.
The Indecisive Readers 
Great post!
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